Episode 8 - Meet Kevin Johnson
30 March 2012
Present: Locke gets Ben and Miles to explain the situation to the camp. Ben says that after they take him their orders are to kill everyone on the island. On the freighter Sayid asks Michael to explain how he got on the freighter. When he does, Sayid drags him to the captain and outs him as the saboteur. Ben sends Danielle, Alex and Karl to join the Others at the temple. On their way they are shot at and with Karl and Rousseau hit Alex gives herself up as Ben’s daughter.
Flashback: Michael is living in New York and trying to kill himself. He fails and sees Libby in a vision. We learn that he told Walt what he did and now Walt is living with his grandmother, waking up screaming and refusing to talk to his Dad. Other Tom arrives and tells Michael the island won’t let him kill himself. He then tells Michael that Charles Widmore faked the plane wreckage to keep people away from the island. He now wants Michael to go on board as Kevin Johnson and kill them all. Michael arrives in Fiji and meets the crew. A package arrives for him with a bomb in it. He starts to distrust the crew and despite another Libby vision activates the bomb. A flag pops up saying “Not Yet.” He gets a call from Ben telling him what to do and assuring him that he doesn’t kill innocent people.
The Good: The acting is first rate throughout. Tom is cocksure and concise, Ben chilling and manipulative. Frank and George come across as good guys but of course Michael is the star (see Best Moment). He plays his tragedy very poignantly and draws you into sympathising with his plight. His guilt, fear, pain and indecision are clear to see, a real credit to him and the writing.
The writing is very strong and the entire episode becomes a giant mysterious morality play. Michael is a murderer and now he is choosing between suicide and mass murder as ways of dealing with his guilt. Despite his betrayal and murder the writers still put Michael in a sympathetic position. By telling Walt the truth we have to sympathise with Michael. Tom condemns him for it but we can see how lonely Michael would have been with the burden of what he did. Then we see him cut off from his own mother by his secrets. Thus isolated from his loved ones, his desire to end it all is more understandable.
The mystery is over who the good guys really are. It has been the story of the season so far and it is neatly encapsulated in this episode. Michael meets both nice people and those who clearly could harm his friends. He knows Ben is a murdering liar but can’t argue with the grim logic that no one forced him to murder Ana and Libby. And now Ben makes a compelling moral case by claiming he won’t harm any innocent people. The tension of not knowing the truth makes this a compelling tale. Tom presents Michael with the exact opposite story from that which Captain Gault told us in the previous episode. Tom shows him evidence that it was Widmore, not Ben, who faked the plane crash. Though he has physical evidence, that is no more proof than the fake black box Gault showed Sayid.
The fact that Libby appears to Michael to try and stop him is further confusion. Is Michael being manipulated for good or evil or at least the lesser of the two? Or is she just a creation of his conscience? The best evidence the Others have is Michael’s inability to commit suicide. Just like Locke (323) and Jack (322) “the island” prevents him from killing himself at the last second. Tom’s certainty that it won’t work and assertion that Michael has work to do (Just as Walt said to Locke in 323) make it seem that perhaps he is doing the right thing. The ability of the writers to maintain that genuine mystery is masterful and keeps this fascinating to follow.
Another strength of this episode and Lost in general is that the story involves characters who are already dead. So here we see more of Naomi, George and Tom. Their future demise adds a new dimension to scenes they are in. The one straight flashback with no interruption is also an effective change here. It allows complete focus on Michael and his desperation with no distractions. There’s a nice touch of continuity when Michael trades Jin’s watch in for a gun (which Jin gave him in 125). I guess we know the Others are no fundamentalist sect if they are cool with Tom being gay.
The previous episode was a tale of two twists, here we move to a tale of two cliff-hangers. Sayid handing over Michael leaves us wondering what his fate will be. But then we see Karl and Rousseau gunned down on their way to the Temple. Did Ben set them up? Or is this the mission which Frank was entrusted with in the previous episode? Great intrigue, demanding viewers tune in again.
The Bad: There is no explanation for how Michael and Walt got home without passports or without an adequate explanation for where they had been.
Why would Rousseau ever trust Ben? Even though his intentions seem honourable toward his daughter, he did steal her from Danielle. You would think she’d be more suspicious. Sadly this story has been sorely neglected for the whole season (see my review of 401) and if she is now dead, that is a real waste of a once fascinating character. Yes we may see her flashback in the future but there was surely more that could have been done with her.
The Unknown: Will Sayid regret handing over Michael with seemingly little thought? He didn’t consult Desmond or even consider that Ben might be right despite ample evidence just through Miles’ shady behaviour that the freighter may be up to no good. Ben says he doesn’t kill innocent people and that makes him one of the good guys. Does killing Goodwin for selfish reasons not count (406)? There’s not much point in going through his resume at this stage, but it’s worth seriously questioning everything he says. At Locke’s camp we only see the people we know in his house. Where are the other survivors who followed him? Did he say this meeting is for important people only or are they out of camera shot? Miles seems to confirm that his instructions are to kill everyone on the island. Or does he? He says nothing. Frank’s behaviour throughout the season and his comments to Michael here definitely imply he has no such instructions. You could say the same of Daniel Faraday too. Neither seems like killers and both have tried to help the survivors. It would seem Miles has secret orders or is going along with Ben’s lies. Speaking of Miles, how does he know Michael is lying about his name? Is he just good at reading people or do his powers extend to some sort of mind reading? Was Michael imaging Libby or is she “visiting” him like Charlie visited Hurley (401)? We see no evidence of a second helicopter on the freighter. We assumed there were two because Naomi claimed to have come from one, which we thought had fallen in the ocean (317). However she seems to be arguing with Frank about using the chopper first. I suppose we can assume she was lying on the island but if so, what fell into the ocean? There’s a chance that this is a production error. The Temple is marked with a Dharma symbol on the map. Ben previously described it as an old place (323), which seems an odd description for a Dharma station. What is it?
Best Moment: At the end of his tether, Michael gets to speak to Ben on the radio. Ben reminds him that he murdered Ana Lucia and Libby. Reminds him of Walt who he has done all of this for. Gives him new instructions which will hurt people again reminding him he is doing it for his friends. When Michael agrees Ben says “Then consider yourself one of the good guys.” Michael drops the headset and weeps. Wonderful television.
The Bottom Line: With the weight of the world on his shoulders Michael carries this episode to great levels of emotional resonance and tragedy. We are left with another hundred questions but I suspect most fans will want to see even more.
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